The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1887-12-09
Artificial Light.


tendance being unusually large. T.
introducing the principal speaker o.
the evening, Mr.. Richard j. Monks
treasurer Of the South Bus' on Gas.irht
Company, the presiding officer alluded
10 him as one of class 20 whom SO
much is due-sneclallsts-who have
rarely received The uiyment due L.
them, who have given their lives to the
The study Of their arr.
Mr. Monks said that the subject Of
artificial light was very large and wor.
Thy - q series of lectures. as Il ought
IA b. covered. lie referred 10 the wor.
ship Of 1he orbs hy the aucicnts. The
ineas claimed 10 be children Of the sun.
Light OF some sort was associated with
those who expected some return from
their duty. The practice Of Rres in
open spaces was common IN ancient
times. As civilization advanced lamp
laws were passed 70 prohibit bondres.
For centuries honires were common
with the Celtic natives IN Burop. espee-
lalIy At festival times Beacon fires
were often used as signals Their use
is mentioned in the Greek tragedy Of
"Agamemnon." In Spain taxes were
levied to sustain beucons at the time Of
the Armada. In the Book Of jeremiah.
IN the Bible, there Is an allusion to the
fire signal There was n mast and tar
barrel ON Beacon Ihll. Il was never
used and was blown down in 1850.
The use Of whale oil originated with
the Norwegians. In 1880 the Dutch
had 200 vessels, employing l4O0O men.
In the business. In New England the
whales were lirst cauRht from small
boats. The Indians engaged with avl-
dity in the hunt for whales. In 1858
there were COO vessels OF 100000 tons
buiden engaged in the American whale
fishery. The argan1 lamp Was first
used in 1870. The decline In whale fish
cry was due to the discovery of oil in
Pennsylvania.
Candles were spoken Of nrst IN re
mote PERIOD. Their use really began In
the early history OF Christianity. As
late as the sixteeth century their use
WAS mited. In spite of modern meth
DDS the candle is used for certain put
poses, and the soft hight cannot fail to
please the eye. Ths honor and merit
of the first application Of coal gas seems
to belong to William Murdoch, of Red
worth, Cornwall, In 1902 he lighted
IN extensive manufacturing establish
ment. France also claimed the honor
of its first demonstration. but not sat
lsfactorily. Janury 2s, 1907, saw a
number Of London streets lighted by
gas. The amount of e2O0OO was raised
and the King petitioned for the iucOr-
pofatlun of u company. Two com
panies supply London at 20 cents per
1000 cubic feet, and their capital is $780,
100000. Coal gas was lirst used in Bal
timore in 1916, aud Tor some time its
progress was slow and unsatisfactory.
Now there are over 100 works IN the
United States, furnishing EMPLOY men,
to over 25,0OO men, a portion being for
he manufacture of water gas.
In l70s n Frnchman discovered the
process by which water gas was made
Ia 1870 Professor Lowe established the
first " woyks IN the Uniued States. The
/ business has Increased enormously here,
/ but moi always, because hard coal and
naphtha are so expensive. Natural
gas has been known and extensively
used IN Asia and China for a loug time.
History tells US of 4 wen In France in
the time of julius Cesar. The first In
the United States WIS in Charleston.
TIE Taylor House in Fredonia, n. T.,
was Illuminated in 1921 in honor OF
Laf} cite. A few years ago gas well
was discovered in Ocean SPRAY, near
this city [Bostonl. The nature and
efficiency of natural gas is but partly
understood.
Petroleum was known to mankind
from the dawn of history. II was
spoken of IN Sweden in 1850 In Wes-
tern Pennsylvania it was found ON the
ground, and used rs n medicine many
years before wells were bored. In 1858
a we'll Y feet deep Welded more than a
/ 1000 barrels day. Then a reckl less
spirit Of speculation arose. II enriched
a few, while 1t ruined thousands. The
standard drill is 1--WE aud one-half inch
es, the flow being as great from small